


Burn

by Shujinkakusama



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Minor Injuries, One Shot, Requited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 13:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11231547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shujinkakusama/pseuds/Shujinkakusama
Summary: Pearl overhears Garnet rejecting Jamie. It is not a reminder that she takes gracefully. // Takes place during Love Letters. Open-ended, freeform, Pearlnet.





	Burn

_I am not, nor will I ever be, interested. Go! Away!_

 

It was luck that Pearl didn’t drop the baking pan in her hands, hot from the oven and laden with cookies. It slipped from her grasp, but briefly, and she managed to catch it without making a sound. She bit her tongue so hard that she tasted—something. A color. Pearl didn’t know how to describe that particular sort of manifestation of magic, but she knew it would take some time to heal.

 

The raw edge of the pan pressed into the crook of her arm, scalding her bare skin almost instantly, and Pearl couldn’t care less.

 

That Garnet wasn’t interested in Steven’s mailman wasn’t surprising. Pearl moved mechanically as she set the pan down on the range to transfer the cookies to a platter to cool, ignoring the blistering pain in her right arm. No, she could have very easily told Steven that Jamie’s pursuit was in vain.

 

After all, if she had no chance, how could a mere human compete for her best friend’s affection?

 

Pearl knew not to think about the irony behind that.

 

She knew not to hope, too, but it was thousands of years too late for _that_.

 

Pearl knew she was a fool, and a hypocrite, and an idiot all in one. Still, she felt a little relieved, knowing that Jamie had been shot down, and promptly.

 

After all, what was it Garnet had said before?

 

 _Three’s a crowd_.

 

Thunder sounded outside, a low rumble that drew Pearl out of her thoughts in time for Garnet to march Steven back in from the porch. She scrambled to hide the burn on her arm, angling herself away from the pair and busying herself with cleaning up. Steven bemoaned Jamie’s rejection, but didn’t push Garnet to change her mind—not that it would have done him any good.

 

Pearl dropped her gaze, and her mind was a million miles away when Garnet was suddenly behind her, drawing her arm gently away from her side. The alabaster Gem hissed softly as Garnet’s thumb brushed over her burn, and Garnet withdrew her hand.

 

“Temple. Now.”

 

“Garnet, I need to finish—“

 

“ _Pearl_.”

 

Pearl knew that tone, and she nodded, slipping out of the oven mitts and double-checking that the stove was turned off before trailing after Garnet without a word. Blissfully unaware, Steven told them each goodnight as Garnet activated the Temple door, and Garnet offered to see to him in a few hours.

 

A few hours, Pearl knew, meant nothing _inside_ the Temple. Time was meaningless, and the pocket dimension had a habit of twisting it. She could meditate for days in a row in the same time that Steven took to go to the Big Donut.

 

She wondered what the _right_ excuse would be, or if any were appropriate at all. Garnet knew perfectly well how she felt; had known for centuries. She may even have known, now, what Pearl would say—extended silence from Garnet portended her best friend looking into the future, and Garnet didn’t speak for long moments.

 

Pearl’s arm throbbed and ached, and the pain crept into her bones. She scrunched her eyes shut and tried to ignore it, tried not to hear how _quiet_ the bubble room was, with only Garnet’s lava pit boiling at the center. It wasn’t enough sound.

 

“Show me,” Garnet said, voice strained, and Pearl obediently stuck her arm out, turning the underside upright to let Garnet look. She could see herself reflected in Garnet’s visor, small and guilty and near tears, and Garnet very gently took her elbow again. The Gem in her right hand glowed a soothing blue, and Pearl exhaled stale air, expecting relief—

 

Sapphire’s ice magic did _not_ soothe the burn, somehow, and Pearl let out a yelp of pain, jerking her arm back with such force that she stumbled backwards against the wall.

 

“I—I’m sorry!” Garnet sounded panicked. She swore under her breath, glancing between her palms. “I thought… I… Let me try again.”

 

If she were anyone else, Pearl would have rejected her outright. Tears prickled the corners of Pearl’s eyes, and she inched forward uncertainly, arm extended. She trusted Garnet. This time, her left hand was glowing; Ruby’s magic, and she ghosted her Gem over Pearl’s arm much more slowly.

 

Somehow, with warmth pooling around the wound, Pearl could breathe again. Heat flowed over her arm, ebbed like water, and trailed away from her burn when Garnet withdrew. She coaxed it like a flame, and Pearl hiccupped, and the tears that poured down her cheeks had less to do with the pain than she would have admitted.

 

“I didn’t think the ice would hurt you,” Garnet murmured, gathering Pearl’s hand in both of hers. Pearl’s grip faltered, and the fusion looked down at her. “I don’t get burns.”

 

There was _Shakespearian_ irony there that Pearl didn’t want to think about.

 

“I’m sorry,” Pearl managed, blinking rapidly. “I—nearly dropped the tray, and it grazed my arm, and I didn’t want to worry you or Steven, but—“

 

But they both knew what had startled her. And it wasn’t the clap of thunder.

 

Garnet heaved a sigh, shaking her head. Her visor disappeared in a flash, and after a moment’s closer inspection, she finally released Pearl’s arm, only to draw her in for a hug. Pearl’s shoulders were tense, but she rested her cheek against Garnet’s breastplate while she cried.

 

“I can’t…” Garnet started at length, haltingly, splaying a hand across Pearl’s back and holding her close. “I can’t promise the future you’d like, Pearl.”

 

“I know,” Pearl murmured, closing her eyes, puffy from crying and dry from the heat of the lava pit. “I’ve always known.”

 

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

 

Pearl chuckled, but it was hollow, and she brought her left arm around Garnet’s midsection in a loose hug. “I’m not the one you just rejected,” Pearl murmured, “I know my place.”

 

“Pearl—“

 

“I do,” Pearl insisted, looking askance. “You were abundantly clear in Thebes. You’ve never been interested.”

 

Garnet swallowed hard. This wasn’t the direction she would have liked the conversation to go in. Futures spread like wildfire before her third eye, and several weren’t ones _she_ wanted to entertain, either. Pearl drifted away from her in some, sometimes toward Amethyst, and in others…

 

There were other Gems, some _humans_ , and deep down, Garnet didn’t want to see Pearl with any of them, either. Her grip on the smaller Gem faltered.

 

“I never said I _wouldn’t_ be.”

 

Pearl looked up at her uncertainly, brows creased. “But you’re not,” Pearl said dully, “Not now.”

 

Garnet closed her eyes, gathering Pearl closer. Her gut twisted and her voice caught in her throat when she tried to disagree. Instead, she said, “Not now.”

 

The knight said nothing, then withdrew a little, and Garnet scarcely let her. Pearl looked down at the fading burn on her arm, knowing that the mark would be there for a day at least. “Someday,” she whispered, eyes faraway and hopeless. “Someday, maybe…”

 

Garnet nodded minutely.

 

“I’d like it,” she said hurriedly, desperate to steer them away from the futures where that someday never came. Pearl didn’t meet her gaze, and Garnet didn’t try to force her. “I’m not… it’s different, if it’s you, Pearl. It would be nice. I’m just… not there yet.”

 

 _Yet_.

 

That was an addition to the conversation. _Yet_ had never been a factor before. There had been no room for _yet_ in Thebes.

 

Pearl blinked rapidly against the resurgence of tears, but these were fueled by something she hadn’t dared to feel in eons, and when she looked up, it was Garnet’s turn to turn away.

 

“It’s different?” Pearl asked, voice small and uncertain, and Garnet nodded slowly.

 

“It wouldn’t be crowded.”

 

In the firelight it was hard to be certain, but Pearl had long ago memorized the contour and color of her best friend’s face, and yet—

 

Yes, that was _definitely_ a flush.

 

Pearl wiped at her eyes and tried to smother a smile. _Yet_ wasn’t _now_ , and Garnet _wasn’t_ interested—but the fact that she’d considered it at all…

 

“I should get those cookies put away,” Pearl murmured, taking a step toward the door. “I’ll just go, before Amethyst gets to them.”

 

“No,” Garnet said quickly, catching Pearl’s hand with astonishing gentleness. “I… don’t go away. Stay. The cookies’ll be fine.”

 

For several seconds, Garnet waited with baited breath as Pearl’s gaze lingered on their hands. Then wide blue eyes flitted up toward her face, and Pearl managed a lopsided smile, curling her fingers in Garnet’s loose grip. “I’ll stay,” she said, “For a few hours.”


End file.
